UPDATE: Met Office issue weather warning for 'prolonged period of heavy rain' for ALL of Northern Ireland during Storm Babet

According to the meteorologist’s Storm Babet will bring a ‘prolonged period of heavy rain to ALL of Northern Ireland from 2pm on Wednesday to 10am on Thursday’.

An earlier warning said it should only affect from North Antrim, Belfast and Newry – but that changed this morning.

Meteorologist’s say the reason for their update is that ‘the warning area has been expanded to cover the whole of Northern Ireland, but the impact level has been reduced’.

‘The warning has been updated to start later on Wednesday and end earlier on Thursday’.

What to expect

Forecaster’s say ‘Storm Babet will bring some heavy rain to Northern Ireland from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday morning, with possible disruption’.

They add that:

• Spray and flooding could lead to difficult driving conditions and some road closures
• Where flooding occurs, there is a chance of delays or cancellations to train and bus services
• There is a small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded, causing damage to some buildings
• There is a small chance of fast flowing or deep floodwater, and communities being cut off by flooded roads
• There is a slight chance of power cuts and loss of other services to some homes and businesses

They add that there is a small chance of extensive flooding to homes and businesses which may lead to damage to buildings or structures.

And driving conditions could be dangerous because of spray and flooded roads and there is a small chance that communities could be completely cut off, perhaps for several days.

The warning adds that there is a slight chance that power and other essential services, such as gas, water and mobile phone service will be lost.